


Unproven Hypotheses

by candlewarmth



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Angst, Batfamily (DCU), Bonding, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Don't copy to another site, Family Bonding, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Good Parent Alfred Pennyworth, Headcanon, Hispanic Jason Todd, Humor, Jewish Bruce Wayne, Literature, Protective Batfamily (DCU), Reading, Romani Dick Grayson, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:28:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22742518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candlewarmth/pseuds/candlewarmth
Summary: Headcanons about the batfam and their assorted lives. Probably a lot more nerdy than I'm planning. But to be honest, I like character work more than I like plotting stories, so figuring out these PTSD-driven characters is perfect.
Relationships: Alfred Pennyworth & Bruce Wayne, Stephanie Brown & Cassandra Cain & Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne
Kudos: 93





	Unproven Hypotheses

**Author's Note:**

> It's a rainy day, so strap in y'all, we're talking about books.

~Alfred Pennyworth reads a lot of classic English novels. And by a lot, I mean everything from Mrs. Dalloway to The Four Feathers. Shakespeare and Swift are constant friends of his, and his greatest joy is introducing a member of his family to an old favorite. When Bruce was young and his parents were out late, the butler would read The Tales of Beatrix Potter and The Wind in the Willows until his charge fell asleep. Now Alfred is fond of sitting down to tea with Jason and discussing the Romantic and Renaissance authors, as well as a few more recent classics Jason insisted he read. He finds in Terry Pratchett a kindred spirit, and in Salman Rushdie a wise friend.

~Bruce Wayne reads nonfiction. Almost exclusively. But he likes to recommend Sherlock Holmes to his children, and so-called “cozy mysteries” to his enemies. The Art of War is probably his favorite, but there are a few other strategy books that come close. When he read The Scarlet Pimpernel in his second year as Batman, he wasn’t sure if he should feel inspired or insulted.

~Barbara Gordon was the little girl hiding under the covers with a flashlight and a Nancy Drew novel. As she got older, she cut her teeth on Agatha Christie and Sir Conan Doyle. But when she wants to laugh or cry, she reads Oscar Wilde, as Alfred had introduced her to a stage production of The Importance of Being Earnest for her seventeenth birthday. Most often now, she reads thriller and horror novels, Stephen King standing out as a favorite.

~Dick Grayson does not like to read. Having been raised in the circus, in the tradition of oral storytelling, he finds bricks of text extremely difficult to sit through. It doesn’t bother him, so he’ll occasionally listen to an audiobook while working out or driving. He also tends toward mystery novels, but especially likes comedian’s nonfiction.

~Jason Todd is the bookworm of the family, and anyone who tells you different is a dirty rotten liar. Shakespeare, Austen, the Brontë sisters, Hemingway, really any classic author. He has strong opinions on them all. He seems to get just as much enjoyment from picking apart a piece of work as just reading it and enjoying it. And he likes good fantasy, like Tolkien, T. H. White, Pratchett, Gaiman, Wrede, Diana Wynne Jones. When he discovered magical realism, he felt like the top of his head was being lifted off. While he doens't discuss it a lot, Jason's Cuban heritage is a source of pride for him, and here was an entirely new genre springing up from Latin America.

~Tim Drake doesn’t really care about most books, except for what they can teach him. So he’s read most of the same books as Bruce and Barbara, especially if one of those two recommended it. But there is one genre he’ll fight to the death for, and that’s science fiction. From the early days of Shelley and Asimov to the classics of the eighties to The Martian, Tim Drake is a sci-fi geek. He also loves The Lord of the Rings because of how much he loves the movies, and taught himself Sindarin Elvish and then Finnish in about two months. Jason is probably the only other member of the family who knows about this, because they marathon the movies every six months or so, and Tim likes to translate all of Legolas’s lines into Sindarin.

~Stephanie Brown reads mostly contemporary fiction, and is not above making up fake authors to get the more avid readers in her family off her back. One of the first readers of the Hunger Games, she was quickly disillusioned with the rest of dystopian fiction. Another favorite is anything by Robin McKinley. People are often surprised to find out Stephanie likes remixed fairy tales, but that’s the whole reason she likes them. They’re not Disney, these stories aren’t trying to tell you life is just gumdrops and rainbows. The stories she likes best are the scary ones, where it’s not certain until the last lines that everything turns out all right. But when she really wants comfort, when she wants to know that the world will still be there in the morning (even though it might not be) she rereads Winnie the Pooh.

~Cassandra Cain also doesn’t read books. And she doesn’t listen to them. Reading is still a bit too difficult for her to tackle novels, and audiobooks are just noise without the context of body language. But the first time Jason and Alfred took her to a play, she cried through the last three scenes of the second act. Ever since then, her family takes her to plays, improv, musicals, performance art, ballets, operas. Anything where she can watch the story unfold in front of her. 

~Damian Wayne does not read frivolous stories. That said, he finds Todd’s beloved magical realism to not be entirely useless. After all, in their world, the magic of it could very well exist. And when he was sick, his father sat up next to him and read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and he did not find that….. Unpleasant. That is not to say he enjoyed it, of course.

**Author's Note:**

> I would have added more authors for Damian, but unfortunately I don't know any middle Eastern authors, and I feel like that's what he would have read more as a kid.


End file.
